For the intelligencia. The people of Pakistan have never been 'free' in any recognizable way you would accept whether or not democracy, ever. But where the middle class and the academic class are 'free' so to speak to live their lives and become upwardly mobile, as long as no one really talks or worries too too much about politics it makes no difference either way. And by comparison I hold up the 50% of US voters who don't. It's more than laziness and apathy - it's that it makes ZERO difference to them either way who gets elected or why. So let Musharraf run elections. When Chavez does you all extol the GREAT MAN. When Musharraf will you will all suddenly exhort the masses to ignore them and rise up anyway. But for the avg Pakistani in the middle class it's of little consequence.

First off that's complete nonsense. There's an ocean of failure between what the bloggers want to accomplish, or worse the more delusional ones think they have, and what they actually have. The Glenn Becks of the world are bread and circuses for people like you to have something to rail against. The attorney firings would have surfaced anyway - because guess what? Lawyers aren't quiet when you illegally fire them.

I was struck by the difference between pop-news and real work recently when I got roped into helping to write a grant proposal for agricultural research. What the blogs and the press construe to be 'environmental issues' are the merest nothings and they are at the 100,000 foot level. "Global Warming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" ok but that's neither an approach nor a program nor even an articulate expression of how it actually may effect people, let alone a plan. But it's splashy, it's blogerrific!

Same thing here. You can rail and rant and vent and shake your fists at Yahweh all you like. It's a bunch of self publishing scribblers complaining to another bunch of self publishing scribblers. If you devoted 5% of the energy to marching in front of 1600 Pennsylvania as you did complaining about how the cops there make it inconvenient to do so, we wouldn't have a war. But where would the blogerati be? Won't someone think of them???

I'm glad Rep Ellison stood up for what he did but don't for a moment confuse yourselves with him. He is not you. You didn't do anything. You reported on some other entertainers complaining about it in exactly the set piece tones they use to complain about everything else. All we're missing is Snidely Whiplash and Poor Nell tied to the railroad tracks.

As if that actually mattered to anyone anywhere and had any bearing on the merits of those cases at all. If there was a court decision of some kind that came out with the same train of thought you talk about re: Powerline and Glenn Beck I'd be interested. But at best this is all just a grown up version of Facebook bullying and shit talking. You picture yourselves at the sharp pointy end of the spear of the vanguard between freedom and the 9th circle of Hell. I'm afraid you overestimate your power, significance or importance. I had the news on today - the cable news we all like to throw rocks at. There was a piece about dieting, one about if your kids sleep more they won't get fat, several dozen weather reports, some sports, a few hours of corporate voyeurism about who the next CEO of Citigroup will be.

Wow. Right up there with Tom Paine, Addison and Steele, Jacques Barzun, Lewis Lapham. Pinch me, I'm blogging at the grown up table.

Isn't mostly everything in the can already? I'm pretty sure the 10 different channels that now harp on selling your house have all filmed what they plan to show. I'm pretty sure the alcoholics on MTV have gotten in all the drunken fist fights they need to. I'm pretty sure VH-1's "I Love NY being a crack ho bitch cunt" has wrapped. TV Land is reruns by definition. Sci-Fi is unwatchable shit on a good day. History Channel is always on reruns; we get it, WW2 was some bad shit. That leaves the Chick Movie channels: We, Lifetime, LTMC. Who cares - Melissa Gilbert wins in the end, the man dies, cue piano music. I don't watch Soap Net. E! needs to die in a pile of fire anyway. USA and Spike are all movies. TCM is movies. AMC is movies. I don't speak Spanish well enough to watch either of the 24/7 100% Spanish channels. Disney channel, I could care less. Dora the Explorer Killed Christ. FSN, ESPN, ESPN-2 don't need writers. They need to show sports. PBS? It's probably a fund drive. That leaves community programming, NASA, 10 home shopping channels, 10 Jesus channels, cable news noise dreck, the country and western music channel (which appears to be 90% Dallas Cheerleader tryouts, the Food Network, FitTV and the channel that tells you whats on all the other channels. And as long as you're on the topic - The Daily Show rerun to new show ratio has got to be 3:1 now. They're on 'break' if it's within 2 weeks of a national holiday future or past. I'm not worried - like striking air traffic controllers, feel free. The world needs a thorough scrubbing anyhow.

But if you think that Reality Show junkies going through withdrawal are going to watch the Marietta Georgia Crack Head Leprechauns or the other 99.89% of YouTube that is sheer unwatchable shit so bad it makes SuperDelux.com look like Eugene O'Neil then you Farhad have licking too many Hypnotoads.

Jesus

Elvis

Grey Aliens

So what's a UFO here or there? Neil Armstrong claims to have seen one. Is HE a crackpot too? Better a President who sees a UFO than one who gets told to sit in the corner by the voices in his head.

We should hand over the nuclear keys because 'that's the will of the people'?

My passport is current, thank god.